Review: On Theater: August Wilson's ‘Gem of the Ocean’ challenges and captivates at SCR

Cast members, from left to right, Arnell Powell, Cleavant Derricks, Matt Ordua and Shinelle Azoroh during rehearsal for August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean" at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa.

By Tom Titus

Oct. 25, 2017 1:55 PM PT

The late August Wilson chronicled the lives of African American characters with a series of 10 plays, spaced a decade apart, in his Hill District of Pittsburgh. South Coast Repertory has mounted four of them — “Fences,” “Jitney,” “The Piano Lesson” and its current production, “Gem of the Ocean.”

Of the 10, “Gem” is the first in the cycle chronologically, set in 1904, though it was one of the last to be written. Of the four produced by SCR, it’s by far the most challenging and also among the least accessible, veering midway through its second act into a hallucinatory sequence that is visually magnificent but dramatically ambiguous.

Directed with nurturing affection by Kent Gash, “Gem” tends to dwell overlong on minor entanglements and labors for nearly three hours as it hones in on the lives of blacks in Pittsburgh, three of whom can remember the Civil War. A half-century of history is capsuled into their tortured reminiscences.

The play is marked by a series of monologues, the most captivating by its matriarch, Aunt Ester (L. Scott Caldwell), who’s old enough to recall the chains of slavery. Caldwell endows her character with the flickering wisdom of age tempered by its physical limitations in a sterling performance.

Another stirring monologue, delivered with bullhorn volume, comes from Cleavant Derricks as the rebellious Solly Two Kings, as pugnaciously uneasy as a free man as he was in slavery. As if to top him in sheer vocal authority, Arnell Powell commands the stage as the power-mad lawman Caesar during his brief appearances.

The central figure in Wilson’s epic is Citizen Barlow, a young vagrant nicely interpreted by Preston Butler III, who figures prominently in the baffling hallucinatory episode. Matt Orduna presides sagely over the house as Eli, who also remembers his time as a slave.

The young and lovely Shinelle Azoroh functions with servile obedience as the maid, Caesar’s sister Black Mary, until finally reaching her breaking point and unleashing unexpected fury. SCR veteran Hal Landon Jr. is the sole Caucasian in the cast as jolly old friend Rutherford Selig.

Edward E. Haynes’ masterful interior set design gives way to a flowing ocean in the fantasy scene, abetted by the craftsmanship of lighting designer Dawn Chiang and production designer Shawn Duan. Susan Tsu’s costumes reflect a bygone era of near-Dickensian poverty.

Wilson died in 2005, shortly after he completed his American century cycle. “Gem of the Ocean” tells how it all began with resounding impact at South Coast Repertory.